Rough and Tough!

Meet Seth! He drove 3 1/2 hours for his Senior Portraits. WOW. I thought that he deserved something very cool since he and his mom came so far, so heres what I came up with.

Hes a cool guy. Ive got about 150 awesome shots of him,and it was hard to choose just one to post. But heres my favorite so far.

Thanks Seth and Sherry! It was a lot of fun for me to get so creative. Ill post more soon!
PS It was so hot out yesterday, we stayed in the nice and cool studio most of the time. haha

You owe it to yourself.

I wanted to tell you guys about someone I couldn't live without. This woman is the best masseuse here in town. Our son just called from school and his back is hurting (after the lineman event on Saturday I know why.) and I called Michelle at Looking Good and was able to get him in this afternoon.

Michelle is fantastic. She has very strong hands and definitely knows what she is doing. Kellie Hogg, the owner of Looking Good Spa, makes all her masseuses work on her first before she hires them and she definitely found a good one with Michelle.

So if you are looking for the best, give her a call. I personally like to book the 1 and a half hour (90 minute) massage with her. But an hour is great too. Shes awesome!

Her phone number is 723-0384.

The Veteran

It is the VETERAN, not the preacher, who has
given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN , not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN , not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN , not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN , not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN , not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.
It is the VETERAN who salutes the Flag.

Be sure and salute your Veterans. We should be thankful and show our gratitude to all who sacrificed for us.

Houston

Im working on the wedding images and its 1 am now, and not finished, so i will post them tomorrow!

In the meantime, here are a couple of images I shot in Houston down near the Galleria area near my hotel.

Joe Buissink & Yervant

Just wanted to post this image of Joe Buissink, Yervant and myself. They were so great and Joe is my new hero! Ive been watching his work the past few years. He and I had a nice chat about the actor Jeff Bridges. I met him once and Joe knows him too. It was so great! Im still pinching myself that I got to spend time with these Famous Photographers. These were just amazing.
Joe is on the right and Yervant on the left. Im a lucky girl.

Yervant is an award winning photographer in Australia, and Joe is in Beverly Hills.
http://www.yervant.com/ http://www.joebuissink.com/

Saturday Stuff

Well today was a great day! Our son competed in the Lineman Challenge! It was a lot of fun watching all the boys work so hard! He did well, as all the Burk boys did. However Rider took first place! They pushed a truck as fast as they could, did all sorts of strength test and compeititons. It was so hot and sunny and I got a sunburn. (forgot the sunscreen this morning)

We saw our friend Jermaine Ferrell there! Hes such a Cool Guy! (and nice too)

If you want to see the awesome story that Jermaine Ferrell of Kauz's did on our son recently. "Eye on Sports" Heres the link here. http://www.kauz.com/sports/19058019.html

PS I will get more images up soon!

7 days of WOW.

I am back from Houston where I photographed a beautiful wedding! To Ruthie and everyone, I will post them tonight! It was special because the bride is a long lost cousin of mine and the family means so much to our family.)

Ive got to hurry, our son has a Event today, but quickly here....

My week long trip was a blast. Friday i drove to Odessa to celebrate my grandsons first birthday! He is a beautiful baby and looks so much like our son Scott. (My daughter named him after her brother.) Then on Saturday I caught a flight to Houston, where I sat next to a former NFL football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers (BAM Morris) I talked to him about our son and showed him photos and he said that our son is destined for the NFL with his weight lifting abilities and football skills. ha ha. He was a super nice guy. He gave me some advice on training and what the NFL looks for! He said he will be looking out for Scott because at such a young age is so strong and is headed in the right direction. He couldn't get over the fact that he squats 705 lbs! He said that is more than some grown men in the NFL!


It was a very nice and pleasant flight.


Then in Houston I got my rental car, (My hubby reserved me a SATURN) and I hate to admit, it was an awesome car. Now I want one! haha. So so super comfortable and the dash is so sleek. A joy to drive. (And I dont know how many horses were under the hood, but it had some get up and go on it.)


I checked into the Marriott near the Galleria and the Hotel staff were impeccable! I really cant remember having such good service. (When I would call room service it came within 15 minutes! That's really fast for any hotel). It was a wonderful stay.
Heres the link. I highly recommend it! And the Galleria area is so beautiful! I had a little work done there. (just my lips, haha. They had a great spa near my hotel, and I couldnt resist)
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/houwl-houston-marriott-west-loop-by-the-galleria/

I'm saving the details of the wedding for later. But it was so awesome. I was so honored to be there.


Then on Monday I attended a great workshop with 2 amazing Photographers . Joe Bussink and Yervant. They are both amazing. Joe is a Beverly Hills photographer and shoots celebrity weddings, Like Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson and Steven Spielberg.

I swear! Joe and I think so much alike! Its nice when you meet someone who has the same philosophies as you do! It makes you think its okay to think the way you do! It was very validating. Here's his site. http://www.joebuissink.com/ This image is one I took while Joe was telling us about Steven Spielbergs birthday party. He made us cry with his tender stories. He truly is a "SOFTIE" and I loved it. The image behind him is Steven and his wife watching their daughter sing Happy Birthday to Steven.)

Yervant is an amazing photographer from Australia. He told me he is Armenian and his father used to work for the royal family. He is an incredible photographer as well. I learned so much.

Ive followed both mens work for a few years and it was nothing short of fabulous! http://www.yervant.info/JoeYervant2008/Home.html



This photo was taken of me and Yervant Monday night after Dinner! We were waiting for the Valet guy to park our cars. I cant wait to apply some of the new things I learned. (I thought after 23 years of shooting weddings, I had seen it all. Yervant taught me a few new tricks!)
It was hot in Houston and I had just come back from the GRAND LUXE restaurant across from the Galleria.(Wheere I had a huge RIB EYE and Chocolate Cake!)



More to come! Our son is in a strong LINE MAN contest today, so got to run!

Its good to be home, I missed my family!

Im back home now!

Im back! Wow, What a whirlwind week it was! Thats a lotta W's!
Ive got lots to share, but my husband and son need me now, so Ill post it on Saturday.
Glad to be back home. Houston was awesome and Odessa was great, but theres no place like home.
Have a good weekend!
Hugs,
DD

ROCKIN' RYAN!

This guy was too much fun, we had a great day! Ive got to catch a plane for my wedding in Houston and see my Grandson, so Ill post more later!
Have a great weekend!
Thanks Ryan it was awesome!

Austin

Keely

Awesome Ashley

Thanks Ashely! It was a joy to meet you and your family! Those eyes!.....what a gorgeous girl!
This girls got confidence, intelligence and a quiet unassuming personality.
Im sure she will shine at whatever she chooses to do.

Amazing Allison!

Here is my favorite image of Allison, shes got beautiful blue eyes (Like a cats they are so pretty!) and she was a lot of fun. As you can see she plays the Trombone!

We shot a record 13 different clothing and backgrounds. Her older sister came last year and has similar eyes.

They are both great girls, with a lot on the ball and a Mom who is so supportive and nice.

Thank you Allison for choosing our Studio. We wish you the best!

How tolerant are you TEST?

My friends are always sending me quizzes and things and i thought this one was good.
Its called How Tolerant Are you?

take the test and be truthful. Its fun.

How tolerant are you? Are you open-minded about people who are different from you? Rich, poor, tattooed, old, young? See how liberal you are with The Tolerance Test.


Results for Dixie D.
"Easy come, easy go; when it comes to tolerance, you're one laid back individual. There isn't much that can make you flinch, and you barely blink an eye at minor inconveniences or people who differ from the societal norm - whatever that is.

You likely place a high value on acceptance, and may feel frustration with those who don't share your open-minded outlook.
You wish everyone could just lighten up already and realize that we're all the same deep down.

We may wear different clothes, speak different languages or have varying perspectives on life, but that's what makes the world an interesting place. Variety is the spice of life!

Not to get hippy on you, but it's people with your view that can bring a higher level of harmony and tolerance to the world.

You set a mighty fine example, and should do all you can to nurture this trait in others."

Take the test at QWEENDOM.com

http://www.queendom.com/queendom_tests/transfer?req=MXwxMDg1fDI3NjY0MDN8MHwx&refempt=1

Always nice to hear

A nice letter from a wondeful client

Good morning - I called yesterday and made an appointment on August 5th for my grandson I mailed deposit today to you.

We're really looking forward to this - he will be 8 months old in August! My son is serving in the military and will be here in August.

Dixie had taken my son's senior picutres 4 years ago and they were wonderful!
In fact, Dixie won several awards on one and it was published in a book!

Anyway, just wanted to let you know I mailed deposit to you today.

Thank you.
D.H.

Quality takes time.

A Note about our Policies:
I wanted to share this with you all. We are in our 13th year in business and we are very grateful to our treasured clients! Many of you have become like family to us. I think that If I needed a kidney one of you would step forward and give one of yours! I really do! We love you guys.

One thing that our repeat clients know is that QUALITY TAKES TIME. We do take between 4-6 weeks to get your portraits back. This is because a lot of love goes into the images. We retouch them by hand (I do all of it, I used to pay a company to and was never happy with it! Then I hired graphic artists and I still was often disappointed) So I do each of them by hand. Sometimes spending hours on one image! Then I send them to an amazing Photographic Lab.They are called Mid South Color Lab and they are in Jackson TN. They are a fantastic lab!

They are not a large lab, but they give the best quality and build a relationship with their clients the past 50 years. They have very old-fashioned ideas of quality and service and have the most stringent color-management standards possible.

Now to the point, we are proud to serve some of the best clients in the area, and thank you for your patience! We are not the bigggest studio, the fastest studio, or the cheapest studio. But we care the most! We really put a lot of love into our portraits.

If you need your portraits quicker than 4-6 weeks, there are 2 ways to go about it. One is to pay your order in Full and this expedites the order. The 2nd way is to pay a 25% Rush Fee which will cut the time to 2-3 weeks.

We could buy a printer and cram it into a corner and hire a person to operate it, and keep it full of ink and maintain it etc. But the quality would be compromised, because we are not a color lab. We don't have tens of thousands or millions of dollars in equipment.

So thank you for your patience. It is a crazy time for all of us, with graduation time and weddings. We are trying so hard to get every ones for graduation! See the list below of what will be coming in this week.
My little grandsons birthday is Friday and I so want to see him and visit and hold him since i have not seen him but once all year!
Thanks for understanding!
God Bless!
Dixie, Monica, Pam, Gina, Tiffany and Bruce

Anonymous Bride

I am working on an order for a bride and I just had to share this image. But I don't like to show them or reveal who they are before the wedding. But just love this image. Her wedding is coming up and its in a gorgeous place! Almost in this exact spot.

A few of our fav Seniors!

Ie had a few of you write and call and want to see the Senior show. Here is the link. It might as you to download a Viewer. It is 100% safe, so dont worry!
Enjoy! http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewshow.html?fl=2925023&alb=0

We are going as fast as we can!

Theres lots going on here, sorry I havent been blogging photos or talking about what we are doing lately. Just trying to get all the last minute folks pictures done.
here is the list of 19 orders that should be done by Friday! If I mised you please let us know!

M. Morris
B. Hurst
T. Gunter
K. Adams
A. Stinett
D. Williams
A. Banks
R. Bretschneider
M. Jiminez
H. Kellar
A. Coombs
J. Tasker
S. Rasco
T. Fox
T. Duensing
G. Foley
C. Hooten
M. Robertson
C. West
M. Gonzales

My 2 Moms!

Yesterday was just a fantastic day! My family and I drove down to the Metroplex for Mothers Day. We picked up my mother in law (MELBA isn't that cute name?) at Church and visited with Church friends, then took her to her choice of restaurants RED LOBSTER. We had such a nice lunch and it was so great to see her and my father in law, who is doing much better since his open heart surgery. It was a gorgeous day! The weather was perfect!

And she surprised me with giving me a gift! (I told her that Mothers Day was for her!)
But she is sweet like that.
We had a nice visit.

Later that afternoon, we drove up to Frisco to see my mother. (I just love Frisco!)

We took her to dinner and her sister, my Aunt Jackie and my cousin all went to BLUE FISH. My aunt had made reservations there and it was wonderful! We had Sushi and Hibachi Shrimp and Steak.

My mom amazed me by being able to walk really well now! Its been a month since her surgery and shes getting around pretty good now! Shes fast! Im so proud of her progress!

We all had a great time. If you've never been to BLUEFISH, then you should check them out! at http://www.thebluefishsushi.com/ Afterwards my mom wanted to get some dessert, so we went to Jason's Deli and got Strawberry Shortcake and cheesecake. I got to see my sister, brother and niece and nephew, Aunt and Cousin too. So it was a great day! (my brother and sister and I havent been all together in a few years!)

I hope you all had a good Mothers Day too! Moms are pretty special and we need to make sure they know how much they matter to us, not just one day a year, but all year.

Have a good one.

Happy Mothers Day!

The bottom one is funny!

glitter-graphics.com
a href="http://www.glitter-graphics.com">
glitter-graphics.com

Cutie Carly!

Watch KAUZ Channel 4 on Sunday!

This morning we met up with Sports dude Jermaine Ferrell from KAUZ, who interviewed and filmed Scott! Jermaine is a super nice guy and really was into asking Scott lots of questions and information about his Powerlifting.

He said that the interview may air on Sunday (MOTHERS DAY) at 8:00 am and 5:30 pm or possibly NEXT Sunday. Its his show called EYE on SPORTS.
It was a lot of fun.
Its nice when Good Kids get Recognition. Sometimes its only the bad kids who get the attention these days.
We are proud parents. :-)

PS Heres a group photo of us 4, Wow compared to these guys I look short! And Im really 5' 7"!

MyHotComments

IRONMAN!

My husband took me on a date tonight. We went to see IRONMAN. Believe it or not, it was my idea. I LOVE ROBERT DOWNEY JR. and I got to meet Jeff Bridges in person a few years ago. In fact I got my picture taken with him (he put his cheek next to my cheek) and took a photo with my own camera! My husbands jaw dropped open. (Tell you more about it later).
The movie was great! Of course my husband liked it because it had fighter pilots in it and planes, and military action, etc. And Gwenyth Paltrow. Shes always been a favorite of mine.

I highly recommend it! Its a great movie. Here is the official website for it, http://ironmanmovie.marvel.com/ and the soundtrack is really great, its done mostly by a guy named RAMIN Djawadi. http://www.amazon.com/Iron-Man-Ramin-Djawadi/dp/B00175G6Q4/
Awesome stuff. And if you go see it, wait till all the credits roll by to see a weird ending. It hints that there will be a sequel.

I want to go see it again soon!

TGIF!

We are oh so excited that our son is going to be On TV Sunday! One of the TV stations is shooting some video of him tomorrow and interviewing him since he broke 3 world records. Hes not as excited as his father and I are, hes modest like that. More to come about it! When where and what station. (Lets just say that I know the Head Female Anchor of this station.)


Also I'm very excited about the wedding I'm going to next Saturday in Houston. Its going to be at the Safari Texas Ranch and the bride is beautiful! The location is at one of the most gorgeous wedding venues in the state. http://www.safaritexasballroom.com and was chosen by the KNOT as one of the finest.

I'm also going to a seminar with one of the most famous photographers in the world next week. Lots going on, and the studio is hopping like crazy. Got to go now, got an appointment with a cheerleader from Burkburnett.
Happy Mothers Day to all you Moms out there!
Going to see my mom in Frisco and my mother in law in Irving this weekend too!
Hugs!

Thats Our Boy!

A lot of you have been asking about it, so here it is! The video of our Son breaking the WORLD RECORDS!
As I said before the Squat record was 550 lbs and he shattered it by squatting 705 pounds! We love you Scott!
(By the way, the whites of his eyes are still blood shot from the amount of weight, it causes the blood to come out of the skin and into the eyes! It makes a mama sad!)

Crawfish Cravings!

Wow, It's amazing what taking a little time to yourself can do! I must do it more often. Last night after the presentation banquet at school (our son was nominated by his class for Class Favorite boy) even though he didn't win, he was nominated and we were proud about that. (they only picked 1 boy to win out of a class of 300 and something!

Afterwards we went to dinner at a friends of ours. Russ and Evette. Evette is from Louisiana and my husband had picked up some Crawfish for her (37 pounds worth!)
and her husband did a great job cooking them. Oh my goodness! They were so good! Russ knows how to cook em! There was potatoes and Corn on the Cobb and ice cold beer and Zydeco music! It was great fun! Thank you Evette and Russ, you're awesome hosts!
Evette gave me several of the biggest crawfish to take home and I decided I wanted to do an image today for a competition that I'm entering.

(I first had Crawfish at the "Court of two Sisters" Restaurant in New Orleans back in 1990. http://www.courtoftwosisters.com/ It's a Great Restaurant!

Another thing that helped relieve my stress is that today I got a One and a Half Hour Massage by Michelle at Looking Good Spa. Shes the best there and my neck doesn't hurt anymore and my headache is gone

"Laissez les bons temps rouler!" (let the good times Roll in French! Evette and Russ taught me!)

Ryan

Meet Ryan! Ryan is an amazing guy. He is going to The AF Academy! We are so happy for him. Its quite an achievement. Ryan plays football and is a top notch student.
It was great to get to know him and his family.

Thanks Ryan and Congratulations!

Shes a cutie!

Sweet Stephanie

I've known this young lady for at least 7 years. Her brother got my son to going to his church for the fantastic youth group and Youth Pastor. They are a wonderful family and I cant believe Stephanie is all grown up now.

She works with Alzheimer patients and her career goal is to become a Register Nurse.

Shes very kind hearted and sweet. I just don't know where the time goes, it seems she was jumping rope in elementary school yesterday!

I hope you had fun Stephanie, you are a beautiful young lady!

Simply Sara!

What a delightful young lady! I photographed her sister a few years ago and now its Saras turn. I am so thankful for Loyal Clients like this family. We had more fun... It was great. Im sorry Im behind on blogging. It was a very very busy week, and Im supposed to be taking time off but of course I have been working hard all weekend.
Thanks Sara and Mom, you guys were a blast!

PILLOW FIGHT!

By the way, Do you miss Film? I do! Thats why Im shooting some Medium format film lately! Its fun, but I had to use a light meter to make certian of my exposure first (remember those days?) Im bringing film back and using my Holga and Lensbaby again too! YEE HAW! I may get my Darkroom stuff out of the attic too.

OUR SON- A WORLD CHAMPION!

I am so excited to hear from my husband and Son (who are in Baton Rouge) that our son did in Fact Break 3 World Records! In the squat he pushed 705 pounds (The World Record was 550!) and in the BenchPress he did 363! (dont remember the record on that) and on his Deadlift he racked 462!

We are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PROUD OF HIM and all his hard work! One thing my husband and I know,and we teach, is that nothing is gained without HARD WORK and SACRIFICE and our son has done just that.

We are super super proud. His name will be in the record books for a long time! (He is missing Church today and feels bad about it. But thats our Scott.)

People always ask me what we are feeding him, I guess my steak and chicken are good stuff!
haha. (And he drinks 3 glasses of Milk a day too.)

My husband said that there was a powerlifting magazine there that may do an article on him. They took his picture several times. One of the Judges shook my husbands hand and said that he's never seen anything like it before and he is not a betting man, But if he had been, he never would of thought a boy that young, or by the way our son looks could do pull numbers like that.

It was a good day for him! Im so proud of him, i just wish I could of been there to see it myself, but I think we got video and photos.
Also my husband took several other boys over to the meet too, and I cant wait to hear their numbers as well. As the web master of the Burkburnett Powerlifting Team, ill post everyones Stats as soon as they get back and give them to me. You can go over and visit that site, its at
http://burkpowerlift.blogspot.com
CONGRATS SCOTT AND ALL THE OTHER GUYS!!! WE LOVE YALL!

Great article for outdoor shooting.

Okay I know I said Im going to take some time off, but I just had to share this with my fellow Pros. If you arnt a photographer, then you will find this boring and skip it.

This is an article on shooting pictures outdoors on sunny days.

My very first photography Teacher (STEVE GOFF) taught us this too, but I just wanted to share it with you. Its a good reminder of the basics.

Last week, I photographed a woman named Jessie.

I had to shoot in the middle of the afternoonon and Im going to use this portrait as an example of how to light an outdoor portrait with 2 flashes on a sunny day. (First step: Cheat.) Being able to create a speedlight-lit photo like this any day, rain or shine, is a pretty straightforward process, if you take it one step at at time. First step Tame the Sun!

The first thing to do when choosing a location for a lit outdoor portrait on a sunny afternoon is to get rid of the sun. The Big Shots use huge gobos to shield their subjects from the sun. But those cost big bucks and you have to cart them around. My solution, find some shade. Being in the northern hemisphere, for me that means finding shade on the north sides of buildings. So that is where I looked when selecting a background for this shot.

The idea is to kill the direct sunlight, and leaves you with diffuse light that is several stops darker. The lower quantity and more diffuse quality of the light both work for you when it comes to combining the ambient with flash. Looking at this wide shot of the shooting location, you can see how a shade environment helps the cause greatly. We shot under an embankment that leads up to a town fountain.Unless you live at the equator and you are shooting at noon on one of the equinoxes, you can always from a shady building side to shoot against.Here's a quick available light test shot, taken at 1/160th of a sec at f/5.0 at ISO 200. I went with a normal, moderately high sync speed that just about any camera could hit. (No special camera hacks today.)

Remember, if you can knock down ambient, you do not need insane sync speeds to do this kind of thing in the middle of the afternoon.What we are going to do is to use this shady area ambient light as fill light, and then use flash to create the main light. So, as you might be able to guess, the next thing I do is to knock that aperture down however many stops I want the fill light to be below the main light.This is your choice, based on how much drama you want to add into your photo. I took it down from f/5.0 to f/11, which is two and one-third stops. This makes for a nice, contrasty lighting ratio for some real texture.You can now see the ambient-light-only photo, shot at f/11 at 1/160th at ISO 200, which shows you what my photo will look like before the flash is added. I consider this process as setting up a "baseline" exposure for the photo. Whatever the flash doesn't illuminate will look like this.Now, it's just a matter of lighting Jessie.

Bringing an SB-800 in close, shooting at 1/2 power in a shoot-through umbrella, I bring her back up to a nice exposure -- with a much better quality of directional light. This is further enhanced with a 1/4 CTO warming gel on the flash, warming her but leaving the rest of the environment cool, for nice color contrast. So we now have a dropped-down ambient and a warm-lit Jessie, which makes a pretty nice photo. But if you have an extra flash laying around, you can use it to add texture and dimension to the background of your photo. In this case, I shot it at a hard angle against that back wall to splash a little (ungelled) light back there and bring out the wall's texture and slave it to your main.

Remember, if you are using your ambient as a fill light, at a ratio you choose, you can use your second light to add depth and texture to your environment.As you can see form this sectional crop of the scene shot above, I raked the flash across the back wall. In this frame, it is on the right. It was set at 1/8 power and I was using a snoot to control the spill. The fact that there is no gel on the back flash allows us a little front-to-back color contrast in the frame, too FYI, I was shooting from the left side of this frame, towards the wall on the right side.)Looking at the top shot again, hopefully you can now see all of these elements coming together in a way that allows you to recreate this style in any full-shade environment. Sometimes when you look at a picture with three or four lighting elements going on at the same time, the reverse engineering can be difficult. Again, the lighting elements being used are: • The cool, ambient shade light, dropped 2 1/3 stops, becomes the fill light -- smooth and dark for a baseline exposure.• Then we build Jessie back up with soft, directional umbrella light.• We warm up the main light for nice skin tones and color contrast.•

We rake a little ungelled hard light across the background, for color contrast, texture and depth.And while a high sync speed always helps, this shot shows us that you Canon 5D (1/200th sync) shooters can absolutely do this kind of stuff. And for those with a full 1/250th sync, the upshot is that you can shoot at a faster shutter speed, which means a more open aperture to get the same ambient exposure. Which in turn means that you can use the flash at lower power for faster recycling/shooting speeds.Example: Instead of 1/160th at f/11 at 1/2 power on the flash, you can shoot at 1/250th of a sec, at f/9, and drop the flash power level down to 1/2 power -2/3 stop. (Or, 1/4 power +1/3 stop.)Same look, faster recycling.I shot a second look of Jessie at this some location. We'll hit this shoot again for a "Part 2" post soon, and also take a look at how to tame those umbrella and light stands, which pretty much turn to sails on a windy day. Its handy to have a couple of assistants on site to help pack and carry and work with you for speed. When I am shooting a cover for a magazine, I have no less than 4 assistants with me. But if you are working alone, sandbag them down. More to come.

Sunday Ramblings...

Hi guys, It's me Dixie. I will be taking just a few days off to rest and regroup.Its been a very stressful few weeks for me.
I also wanted to show you this awesome promo (Its done with FLASH and its seamless, my hats off to the designer. Okay enough Techno Geek speak) The ordinary person will enjoy it because it feels like you are really there.
If this doesnt make you want to go to Vegas, I dont know what will. (The MGM Grand Hotel)
Click on the words "Enter Maximum Vegas" and it takes about 90 seconds. Very cool!
http://www.mgmgrand.com Time for another trip to Vegas very soon. ( I try to go once every year but havent been in 3 years!)
:-)

Dixie

Hi There. Im new at this bloging stuff. This is Lori, Dixie's friend. Dixie is going to take a few days off work. She lost a friend to cancer just a few days ago and then the Air Force Crash at the base. In addition she is very worried about her mother and father in law too. And now with all the graduation people calling and her working 24/7 she really needs a break.

You may call the studio normal hours and her girls will take care of you. Please understand that she is going through a hard time. I am sure you understand. She will be back in a few days.
Thank you. The studios phone is 761-5111. Moncia, Pam and Tiffany will be working regular studio hours.
Thank you, Sincerely, Lori Reed

What ever happened to GOOD MANNERS?

I want to talk about manners for a minute.
For people under 40, maybe they don't know this. But I would think that they would.

IT IS RUDE TO CALL ANYONE THAT YOU DO BUSINESS WITH ON THEIR HOME PHONE! And Bad Manners!

We love our clients, but manners have just fallen by the wayside on some of the younger people lately.

I just cannot believe the nerve of some people who think it is okay to call up a person at home about a business matter with their portraits.

We have a studio phone and a staff to answer my business phone. I pay $24. an hour to a staff to answer my business phones for me.

Some people feel like they can just call me anytime day or night weekends or weekdays and wake up my grandson, and husband, and disturb our family dinners and our PERSONAL LIFE.

I was also raised never NEVER to call anyone during the dinner hour.

That's 5-7:30 at home. Its RUDE, and by the way, DONT EVER CALL anyone after 9:00 pm at night

Now where are peoples manners these days?
Please DO NOT CALL MY HOME! And I will not call yours unless its before 5:00 pm AND I WOULD NEVER DREAM OF CALLING YOU ON THE WEEKEND.

We just had 2 deaths of close people we knew and we need our rest and quiet time as a family.

I wont bug you on your cell phone either or work phone either! My mama taught me better.

Lets all just be a little more courteous and teach our children GOOD MANNERS.

Hugs and Happy Weekend.

PS MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS HERE PDixie@sw.rr.com or go to the right hand side of the page where it says "WRITE US". I print them all out and file them and save them FOREVER. Now can you do that with a phone call?

:-)

Happy Mothers Day

Mothers Day is next Sunday, don't forget! By the way, what a great gift to give the mother of your children, or your own mother is a Gift Certificate from PHOTOGRAPHY by Dixie.
All you have to do is send an email or give us a call and we'll give you a beautiful gift certificate ready to give and make her smile! All moms love portraits! Or why not schedule a sitting for you with your children.
Something they will always treasure.
Have a great weekend!

Madonna

Nothing in Life Can Hold More Joys or more Tears, Can make you more Proud or More Tired, or give back More Rewards THAN BEING A MOTHER.

Mrs. Stephens would be proud! (10th grade typing teacher)

Wow Since I got my nails taken off (my artificial tips) I can type a lot faster!
86 words

Speedtest

Check those statements!

Well the unthinkable happened to me today. I went out to lunch with my employees (To celebrate surviving the past week! and the waiter said my Credit card was showing a problem. So I came back to the office and went online to check my statement. I had just paid some bills online with my business account and guess what I saw!
3 Unauthorized charges! To Blockbuster Video, net flicks and another company! Over $80.oo in charges.
I called and cancelled my card and am sitting here very mad.
I don't know how or where this happened, the bank said that they may can find out. But I just wanted to alert you all to be sure and pay close attention to your statements, who knows if a charge or two has been going through the past few years and I had no idea?

So be sure and check them and call your CC company and dispute anything that looks suspicious. WHAT A WEEK IM HAVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterdays Crash

I wanted to inform everyone who has been calling and writing that NO my husband was not involved in yesterdays Crash here at Sheppard AFB. But he does know one of the pilots (a fellow instructor and Major) (His name isn't being released in the news yet.) He was training a new student and they were doing " Touch and Gos" when it happened early yesterday in the same plane my husband flies the T-38C. (It happened around 8 am)

We are very sad about the two men and our hearts go out to their families. One pilot is married with children and the other was a new student. I cant say anything else until the families are all notified. This is indeed very tragic.

My husband has been flying here for almost 14 years and knows the dangers they face with these students and jets every day. I know when he goes to work that he might not come back home. I learned this lesson the first 2 years we were married and living in Japan. He was flying a Jet over the Ocean off the Japan coast in an exercise with the US Navy. It was a midair collision. It really shook me and taught me that this is really very dangerous.

These Pilots are Super Smart and Super Brave, but the fact is that things can and do happen.

E

specially while training young new students and the students can make mistakes, or the plane engines can malfunction, there are lots of things that can wrong. Just a few years ago, my husband hit a flock of big birds at another Texas Base and it blew a huge hole in the canopy of the plane narrowly missing his head!) He safely landed THANK GOD. Just a lot can go wrong when you are flying a Jet that fast.

Just always remember: The price we pay for our freedom is NOT FREE.

Our prayers and thoughts go out to their families.


(PS Torin Halsey, a photographer I know, took the images of the remains of the plane on todays front page Times Record News.)
http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2008/may/01/t-38c-sheppard-air-force-base-crashes

Make some guy draw your Face

If you send Damien Weighill a photo, he will draw your face and put it on his blog.

When he does you will have a mustache. Or perhaps there will be a gorilla behind you. Maybe you will be a dinosaur.

He is unpredictable. Approach with caution.
http://yourfaceblog.blogspot.com/

PS He lives in London and hes a professional Illustrator and has a web site just for his illustration business. http://damienweighill.com/illustration

I think its free? Not sure. Im gonna send him mine and see what he comes up with.

Very 1960s and Funky style!